Longing
by MythicWolf04
Summary: Fox and Wolf celebrate Valentine's Day in their own unconventional way.


Fox gazed out of the window giving him a perfect view into empty space, and he wrapped his blanket further around him as he curled into the small, grey loveseat in his quarters on the Great Fox. He hummed softly to himself before putting his earbuds in and turning his laptop on.

It was incredibly late, so he was almost certain none of the others would be awake, giving Fox plenty of time to accomplish what he'd been waiting to do for a few weeks now. He moved the mouse on his screen to the video chatting app on his home screen, and clicked it, warm tendrils of apprehension spilling into his gut. None of his team knew about the scandalous secret he kept, and if he was honest, he'd like to keep it that way.

Fox smiled, recalling the incident that had started it all. He'd never really meant to get this serious with what he was doing, but it was all worth it. One chance meeting on Corneria and a short, but somehow friendly conversation was all it took for their… 'arrangement' to happen.

He glanced at the bottom corner of his laptop and noticed the time and date with surprise. It was one in the morning, Valentine's Day. He made a noise in his throat that resembled a startled yelp, his face heating up. Figured that he would be contacting him on this night in particular.

Fox clicked on the name of the person he was due to chat with after logging in, and after a moment of nervous hesitation, he typed in a greeting.

Hey, are you up?

He snorted at himself, wishing he could've come up with something better. A moment later, though, the other person starting typing a response, and Fox found himself starting to smile giddily.

Yeah, was waiting on you. Want to do video?

Fox felt his chest warm up, surprised to see that he was waiting on the vulpine to contact him. It was nice, having all of these fuzzy feelings rushing through him for once. He'd never felt so attracted to someone before now, and who he fell for was enough of a shock in it of itself.

Of course!

Fox pressed the button to start a video call, and the screen changed to a blank one, a friendly jingle playing in his ears as he waited. He tightened the blanket around himself a little bit more, making sure his earbuds were firmly in his ears. He wrung his hands and scratched his chin, staring at his laptop as it connected.

After what seemed like an eternity, the screen changed, and Fox was met with the half-smiling face of Wolf O'Donnell.

"Hi!" Fox whispered with a grin, his stomach twisting up in little knots. Wolf chuckled at his naivety, eye gleaming in amusement. His surroundings were dark as well; Fox knew he'd been hunkered down at some apartment on Corneria.

"Hey, Fox," Wolf replied with a wider smile, making Fox's cheeks heat up. He had never felt so nervous and jittery about anything in his life before, until Wolf came and upturned everything he thought he knew.

Fox had come to learn that much of what he thought he knew about Wolf was due to heavy propaganda and secondhand opinion, and after meeting him on a rainy Cornerian day where they exchanged contact information, he learned that Wolf wasn't such a heartless man after all. He was still a major badass, the one thing that hadn't been exaggerated or warped about his character over the years.

"H- how have you been? Anything good going on for you lately?" Fox asked, wishing he could see Wolf in person for once. He was on a rebuilding mission to Katina to help with the military bases there, but he didn't want to go. Unfortunately, he was overruled in a vote, so the team left.

Wolf shook his head. "Its been the same for the past few weeks, except getting to know you for real," he murmured softly, scratching his ear.

Fox smiled even wider if that was somehow possible, chest tingling. His hands reached out in front of him behind the laptop, as if Wolf was somehow there on front of him, tangible and real.

"Me too," he whispered, looking down at his lap while Wolf laughed, a deep and booming sound Fox wished he could hear more often.

"It's- it's Valentine's Day, you know," Fox continued, regaining some of his nerve now that his initial awkwardness was dispelled by Wolf's jovial mood. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he realized that he was probably the source of that good mood.

"Yeah," Wolf replied casually, "And I've got the perfect Valentine in mind," he stated with a warm smile.

"You do?" Fox questioned, looking hopefully up at him. They'd never talked about being in a relationship before, they had just eased into whatever they were doing naturally, with Wolf taking every opportunity to flirt mercilessly with the younger vulpine.

"He's kinda short, he's got some orange fur and bright green eyes, and he's the most adorable thing in the Lylat System. You know who it is?" Wolf asked, making Fox grin into his hands, trying his hardest not to laugh for fear of his team waking up.

"Hmm, let me think…" Fox trailed off, scratching his chin in a mockery of thinking. "Oh, it's me," he stated confidently, snickering at how absolutely cheesy they both sounded.

"You guessed correctly! I'd give you a prize, but I can't exactly do that," Wolf murmured with a chuckle, hand on his chin as he stared rather dreamily at Fox, making him look away for a moment.

"That really means a lot, Wolf," Fox replied with a genuinely soft smile on his features. "Nobody has ever been so kind to me, not in a long while."

"Same here," Wolf stated before opening his mouth to say something else. He apparently decided against it, however, and opted to just stare at Fox some more.

"I wish we could be together," Fox breathed, his mood starting to fall down from its high. "I want to hold you so bad."

"Yeah, me too," Wolf said, frowning. "But let's enjoy what we've got, at least we can talk to each other right now."

"I suppose so." Fox scratched his neck, his face heating up as he thought of another dumb question to ask. "So, uh- are we a, you know… couple, or whatever?" He stuttered, twiddling his thumbs. Wolf laughed again, and Fox joined in quietly, anxiety lifting from his chest.

"If you'll have me, I'd like that," Wolf requested when they settled down, his own voice a little timid, which astonished Fox quite a bit. He never expected the greatest badass in the system to get nervous!

"I would love to be your boyfriend!" He exclaimed a little too loudly, and took an earbud out, listening to see if anyone heard him. He couldn't pick anything up, so he shrugged, putting it back in and refocusing.

"That's wonderful, Fox," Wolf stated sincerely, showing his teeth when he grinned this time. "Don't tell anyone about this though, I still have a rep to uphold." Fox rolled his eyes, knowing that Wolf's soft side was reserved only for him.

"You'll always be the coolest mercenary to me, don't you worry about that," he stated confidently, getting a shrug from Wolf.

The two descended into an easy silence, neither really wanting to break it and just staring at each other. Fox took the time to study every part of Wolf's ruggedly handsome face and he was sure his new boyfriend was doing the same. His face broke out into a dorky smile at the thought. Oh, how things had changed so much between them!

"What are you grinning about?" Wolf asked, hands on his chin. Fox shook his head, crossing his arms and leaning back into the couch.

"Just glad I can see your pretty face, at least. I wish I could see more than only that, though," he remarked with a sheepish look, scratching his ear.

Wolf chuckled. "That can be taken a few different ways, you know. What do you mean by wanting to see more?" He asked, wiggling his eyebrows provocatively.

Fox's face caught fire, and he managed to get out, "That wasn't… I- I just meant I wanted to see you in person, not that I wouldn't want to in other ways but-" he was cut off by another booming laugh from the lupine on the screen.

"I'm just messing with you, calm down!" He exclaimed, head in his hands as he wheezed with laughter. Fox watched him with joy, glad to see he could be so carefree for once, unlike every other time they met.

When they both calmed down, which admittedly took a few minutes as they couldn't stop laughing, Fox opted to ask, "Hey, when this mission is over, do you want to spend a night or two at my place on Corneria?"

Wolf's face brightened significantly at that statement. "Of course I would! We could go on a real date as well, right?" He questioned, his eye wide and begging. Fox nodded, if not a little shyly.

"Restaurant of your choice, I promise. I've got the funds for just about anything, so don't be afraid to hold back," he answered. His hand twitched, Fox wishing he could hold Wolf's hand, and a sense of melancholy washed over him.

"You might have made a mistake in saying that; I've got more than a few ideas in mind," Wolf stated with a thoughtful grin, making Fox roll his eyes for the second time that night.

"I'll stick to my word no matter how much I might regret it," Fox promised, hand over his heart in a mocking gesture of honestly. Wolf snorted, and probably would have hit his arm playfully had they been together.

Fox curled in on himself more than he had before, checking the time on his laptop. They had been talking for more than an hour, and his team was due to arrive at Katina sometime late tomorrow morning, but he didn't want to stop talking with Wolf.

"I'm gonna kiss you the second I see you on Corneria," Fox stated with a sappy grin, making Wolf groan.

"I can't believe you just said that," he muttered disbelievingly, hand on his forehead. They really were way too sappy for their own good.

Fox laughed. "I can't help it, you make me this way!" He grinned, his tail wagging furiously somewhere in the blanket. "I've never felt this way about anyone else before in my life," he murmured sincerely.

"I never thought I would feel so in love with someone like this," Wolf started, laughing nervously. "I always thought I'd be alone for the rest of my life, a wanted criminal forever. I'm glad to see that's not what I'm looking forward to now."

"Wolf," Fox murmured, smiling like an idiot as his face and chest heated up. "That's the sweetest thing I've heard you say since we met," he cooed, slightly teasing him.

"I'd lose all of my respect if anyone else heard that," Wolf muttered, embarrassed beyond belief as he cradled his head in his hands.

"Don't worry; if it makes you feel less embarrassed, I've never fallen for someone so hard and so fast, and I'm glad it was you," Fox pointed out. "I'd always thought when we fought in the past that we could've been friends in another lifetime, and it was a shame we weren't on the same side," he thought aloud, picking at his claws.

"Maybe we can start to be on the same side out of this little screen. If we try to repair relations between our teams and Corneria, then just maybe it'll work," Wolf murmured, eyes looking distant.

"Every little bit helps, I guess. I'll try to talk with Krystal and the guys about it tomorrow, and we'll go from there. We'll take all of this one step at a time, and it'll work out, I guarantee that," Fox stated confidently, the drive to be with Wolf keeping him strong.

Wolf nodded gratefully, his eyes expressing a warmth more comforting than the blanket Fox had wrapped around his body. It was a strange effect no one else had on him, not even his friends.

He sighed, mood darkening as he thought of his team. He knew they'd be angry and disappointed he was going out with his old rival, and it certainly didn't feel good to be keeping this secret. Fox decided he could voice his frustrations some other time, maybe when it wasn't in the ungodly hours of the night.

"I don't want to go, but I need to actually get some sleep or my team is gonna wonder what the hell I've been doing all night," he confessed with a sigh.

"I understand, but if it were up to me, I'd talk with you until morning," he replied earnestly, ears twitching.

"I can't wait to see you again after this stupid mission, and nothing will be able to keep us apart this time," Fox stated fiercely, hand on his chest.

Wolf chuckled at his theatrics. "Alright, well I won't keep you." He paused for a moment, looking slightly conflicted, before he said, "Happy Valentine's Day, sorry I couldn't get you a gift."

"Happy Valentine's Day to you too, and you're the best gift I could ever ask for!" Fox exclaimed with a bright grin. Wolf rolled his eyes playfully at the cheesy statement, trying and failing to hide his smile.

"Bye, Wolf. I'll see you soon," he promised, waving.

"See you later, and sleep well," Wolf responded as he too waved, and Fox exited the call before he started stalling to keep talking.

Fox smiled like a dork as he closed his laptop and held it to his chest, dislodging his earbuds in the process. He couldn't believe he'd just became Wolf's boyfriend on Valentine's Day at two in the morning on his couch; it was honestly the most cliche thing he could think of. He set his laptop down on the floor and lay down on his loveseat, closing his eyes.

He so desperately wished he could hold Wolf, but he would get there very soon. Clutching his blanket, he closed his eyes, feeling sleep and peace of mind overtake him.

The last conscious thought he had was that he was undeniably and utterly lost in love.


End file.
